Through the Walls
by hullosweetpea
Summary: College AU: Single room. The two sweetest words Dean had ever heard, but it came with an unexpected catch: the floor was full of music majors. Enthusiastic, die hard practicing, music majors. Dean thought he was catching a break when they went out partying, but one stayed behind. The cello music echoing through the walls and drawing him in. #WritingPromptWednesday


**A/N:** **On Tumblr unforth-ninawaters is doing a #WritingPromptWednesday. It's fun and you should join! This week's theme was College/University AU's. I picked this as my prompt:**

 **Why, oh why, did I have to be the one non-music kid to end up on a fricken dorm corridor filled with music geeks who practice at all hours AU**

 **I've been hearing Adele's "Hello" through the walls lately, so that may or may not have influenced this story…**

 **Disclaimer: Kripke's**

Through the Walls

Single room. The two greatest words Dean had ever read the entire summer.

Sure, applying for it had seemed like a long-shot at the time being an incoming freshman, but apparently it paid off. Now as he walked from the parking lot to the dorm hall it was finally becoming real. There were plastic signs everywhere welcoming freshman and signs on where to go and whatnot. Dean followed a gaggle of people inside to wait and get his key from his RA. Mary placed a hand on her son's shoulder. "Are you nervous sweetheart?"

"No, I'm good, Mom." He gestured to the bags in his hands. "But I would love to drop this stuff off."

Sam punched him in the shoulder to get his attention. "Cool! Dean did you just see that! That guy had a replica of Link's shield."

He smiled and ruffled Sam's growing locks earning him a glare. "Yeah I did." The guy in front of him finished and Dean stepped up to the table where a curvy brunette with a smirk sat behind. "Um, Dean Winchester."

She looked down a list, guiding with her finger, until she stopped near the bottom. "Winchester, room 067." She looked back up and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, _you're_ single boy. You lucked out there freshie." She picked up a manila envelope and a clip with two keys on it. "Here's the welcome packet. It has among other things the dorm rules and the password to the Wi-Fi here. The brass key gets you into the Hall and the silver one lets you into your room." She handed them over to him and pulled a sheet out of a box and sat it and a pen in front of him. "I just need you to sign here and then you can go to your room." He scribbled his signature and she took the paper back and slipped it into a folder. "Well freshie, you're officially apart of the dorm. I'm Meg and I'll be your RA for the year. Hall meeting's at six; don't be late."

Dean walked away from the table and he tried to squeeze through the crowd to where his family was waiting. "Let's head on down to the basement." They shuffled over to the stairwell and made their way down the stairs. The basement hallway was small and the overhead pipes were exposed, but it was loud and an explosion of color. The walls had two huge bulletin boards covered with posters for clubs, organizations and activities over the following weeks. Every door in the hallway was open and people were milling about. One room had the desk, chairs, and armoires sitting outside of it.

A burly guy was dramatically reaching his arms out from the doorway of a room to a delicate girl across the hall in another room, both of them singing. "Anywhere you go, let me go too. Love me, that's all I ask of you."

A skinny blonde darted out of one of the rooms and stood between them. "I gave you my music, made your song take wing. And now, how you've repaid me, denied me and betrayed me. He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing." He grabbed the other girl by her shoulders. "Christine. _Christine!_ "

"Balth, Christine doesn't want you," shouted a girl from one of the rooms.

"Oh, piss off Charlie," he responded with a grin on his face.

"Hey, that's _my_ girlfriend you're serenading," Charlie responded.

Dean blinked, taking in the entire ordeal playing out in front of him. "What room are you in, sweetheart," asked Mary.

He blushed at his mother's term of endearment, but let it pass. "067."

The blonde perked up and walked over to him. "067? That's just to the right of mine." He jabbed his finger behind him. "Just walk two more doors down."

"Thanks, uh-"

"Balthazar."

"Dean."

The blonde turned around and disappeared into the room where the shouting had come from. The Winchester clan walked past two doors and then they were in front of 067. Dean unlocked the door and he was struck with a stale air smell. He flicked the light switch and the room was illuminated with a fluorescent glare. There was a bed, desk, chair and armoire, the rest was empty.

"It's nice in here," said Mary as she stepped in and dropped the bags she had been carrying to the side.

John sat some of the boxes he carried in on the floor. "They have a nice set up here."

Dean pushed back the blinds on the window and looked out. "Yeah, it's not bad."

Music started playing again from somewhere in the hallway. "Seems like they have a thing for music," remarked John.

Dean shrugged. "It probably won't be bad."

Sam jumped up on Dean's bed. "Except, unlike the Impala, you don't get to choose the music."

"They invented headphones for a reason," he countered.

Mary sighed and looked around the room. "You probably want us out of the way. Give you some time to settle in."

Dean walked over to his mom and wrapped his arms around her. "Mom, I'll be fine. I won't forget to call. And eat my vegetables. And fruit. And I'll clean behind my ears. And-"

Mary playfully smacked her son's shoulder. " _Dean_."

He grinned at her and squeezed her a bit tighter. "Love you."

She rubbed the back of his head and kissed his forehead. "Love you too."

John gave him a quick hug and a clap on the back. Sam gave him a hug, but stuck his tongue out at Dean when he ruffled his growing hair. Soon he was the only one in his room amidst all of the belongings he needed to put away. 

-o-O-o-

Over the course of the time it took to set up his dorm room, Dean learned quite a bit.

The Wi-Fi was temperamental.

He didn't have nearly as much stuff as he thought.

But mini fridges took a while to cool down

The room to his left was not a dorm room, but the bathroom

 _Everybody_ kept their door open

Which consequently meant Dean kept his open

And they had a thing for music

Since Dean had moved in, the halls had never been quiet, either someone was singing, speakers were blasting music, or both. As six neared Dean finished and he was ready to go to the meeting and then to the dining hall.

"Hey! It's time for the meeting! Head towards the lobby!" Meg's voice carried down the hallway and Dean shut his door and locked it before following everyone.

The lobby was small and had a couch, two arm chairs, and two tables with two wooden chairs each. Meg was perched on top one of the tables, organizing some papers. A red head gal was sitting in an arm chair with the girl who had been singing when Dean first showed up on her lap. A guy with a mullet was sitting in the other arm chair and was talking with a blonde chick and a fresh faced boy who had dragged over the chairs from the table. The couch was packed with another red head, a dark haired brunette, a light haired brunette, and an African American guy all talking animatedly. Balthazar was sitting crossed legged in one of the chairs next to the man who had been singing, both were talking to a dark haired guy who was perched on the other table. Looking around Dean realized something: all of the seats were taken. Balthazar turned and noticed Dean standing by the doorway and waved him over. "Dean-o! This is Benny and my roomie Cassie."

"Cas," corrected the dark haired man in a deep voice; his blue eyes lighting up in annoyingness.

"Budge up Cassie and let him on your perch. These floors weren't made for sitting," proclaimed Balthazar.

Dean gave him a look, but jumped up on to the table. Benny looked towards him. "You'll get used ta him, brotha."

"Okay nerds, let's get this meeting under way," announced Meg. "We're going to start with introductions then get to the nitty gritty stuff. Just give your name, year, room number and major. I'm Meg, senior, 063, Music."

She pointed to the girls in the arm chair and the red head sat up. "Charlie, sophomore, 061, Music Ed."

The girl sitting in her lap moved so she was more on the arm. "Gilda, junior, 061, Vocal Performance."

The guy with the mullet cleared his throat. "Ash, freshman, 060, Music-Conducting."

"Jo," said the blonde, "junior, 065, Music- Instrumental."

"Hi everyone, my name's Garth. This here," he dropped his arm around Ash's shoulder, "is my roommate. We're in 060, so just drop on by to say hi. Oh, I'm a freshman and I'm goin' for Music Ed."

"Victor," said the only guy on the couch, "senior, 062, Music Ed."

"Anna, junior, 065, Music- Instrumental," rattled off the other red head.

The darker brunette yawned. "Ruby, freshman, 064, Music-Vocal."

The other brunette smiled widely. "Dorothy, sophomore, 064, Music."

"Balthazar, junior, 066, Vocal Performance."

"Benny, sophomore, 062, Vocal Performance."

"Cas, freshman, 066, Instrumental Performance."

With Dean being the last person to introduce himself he realized something important. "Uh, Dean, freshman, 067, Automotive Tech."

The others gave him a few curious glances, sinking in the fact Dean was the odd man out amongst a group of music majors.

That did explain a lot of things though.

"Okay, introductions out of the way let's get to the important stuff," announced Meg. "For those of you who don't know this is one of four co-ed floors on campus because of the theme, so don't fuck this up. So please, for the love of God, no sex in the showers. I don't care if you have it in your room; I've even got condoms in my room if you need them, but if you do it in the shower I have to report you So don't do it. And those showers are really small anyway. And on that note I'd like to remind you the bathroom is co-ed too, so be respectful and not douche bags. Also, no alcohol either. The only people who can are me and Victor because we are both twenty-one. If you lock yourselves out of your room I will unlock it two times for each roommate, but after that you've got to cough up fifty bucks or wait for your roommate. We have two fire drills first semester and another two in the spring. The bathroom is cleaned at 2:00 every day, so if you have to go do it before." Meg scanned through her notes. "That's about it. If you have any questions just look through your welcome packets, or ask me. It's been a great meeting and try and have a good year."

-o-O-o-

Monday

6:06 am was too damn early for a wake up call, but at 6:06 he heard singing coming from the bathroom, straight through his walls. He groaned and wrapped his pillow tighter around his head. It sounded like Benny and Balthazar were singing something, but whatever it was it was loud, the bass coming clearly through and vibrato vibrated through the brick. There was a pause and he sighed in relief, only to groan again when he realized Gilda must have come in, because her breathy soprano voice floated through.

Tuesday

Dean was trying to catch a nap after his last class of the day when something loud, brassy, and sharp pierced the air. He peeked his head down the hall and heard laughter coming out of Gilda and Charlie's room. He could see Charlie with her trumpet and Garth with his tuba cracking up about something on her bed. He ducked back into his room and shut the door hoping to get some sleep. He pulled his covers up and tried to sleep as they starting playing fast, catchy pieces.

Wednesday

Three words. Impromptu Bohemian Rhapsody. At two, in the _morning._

Thursday

Dean determined that God must hate him because he was trying to work on his Trig homework when Dorothy, Ruby, Victor, Balthazar, Benny and Gilda decided to throw together a mini show in the lobby that Dean could hear all the way back in his room. He hit his head silently against the wall and hoped it would at least end by 9:00.

After the originally planned pieces, the encore, and audience participation section it was 11:17.

Friday

Apparently there was a home game the next day, so Garth, Ash and Charlie were practicing their marching band pieces while Meg was showing the other girls the choreography for the color guard. Benny explained that those three were in marching band, Cas, Anna, and Jo were in orchestra, himself, Balth and Gilda did opera and Dorothy, Ruby and Victor did Choir. It was pretty mellow until Balthazar showed up to sing an overly dramatic rendition of the school's fight song. After that a jam session broke out in the hallway with a cappella thrown in for the vocal students. If Dean was going to admit it out loud I'd say he rather enjoyed. Until the time drifted past midnight.

Saturday

They had won their first home game, which meant…

"PARTY TIME," shouted Balthazar as he slid into view of Dean's hallway.

"And…?"

"You should come. Pike throws brilliant parties after games and you should see the cute sorority babes," added Balthazar with a wink.

"No thanks." Dean looked back down at the Trig he hadn't really gotten to start at all the entire week.

"Okay then, cute frat boys. It doesn't matter what you like, nearly everyone goes to Pike."

Benny showed up behind him. "You should go, brotha. I've been meanin' ta introduce you to Drea."

Balthazar's face lit up. "See, come on!"

Dean shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry guys, maybe next time."

"Suit yourself." Balthazar put on a pair of sunglasses. "See ya!"

The moment they left Dean shut his door. Silence. Complete and utter silence. It was the most beautiful thing Dean had heard in a long time and it was his. The rest of his hall had gone out to celebrate the football team's victory and if he had any luck in him they wouldn't come crawling in until three. He planned to finish up his homework and fall asleep, all of the late night shenanigans of his hall mates keeping him up at odd hours. Dean settled in for a power round of homework when it started. The music. He almost cried out of frustration. How hard was it for him to catch a break? He listened closely and realized the musician was performing warm-up scales. And it was a string instrument. And coming from next door.

Cas.

Honestly, Dean hadn't really seen much of him since the meeting at the beginning of the week. After a quick warm-up he began playing something that struck a nerve in Dean. It was deep, rich, and hauntingly beautiful, as if he was giving up his soul to put it into his music. Dean tried to be pissed about it, but he really couldn't bring himself to it. It may be loud and sound like he was actually playing in his dorm room, but it was soothing. He tried to focus on this Trig homework, but it just wasn't happening. He finally gave up and left his room to knock on Cas and Balth's door. The music stopped abruptly and he heard sock covered feet padding to the door. It opened and Dean was face to face with Cas. "Oh, I thought everyone left for the party."

Dean rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Naw, I didn't feel like it. Can I come in?"

"Oh, of course." He stepped aside and Dean walked in. Cas rushed over to his bed and tried to clean it up. "I'm sorry. I normally am not this messy."

"It's cool, Cas." Dean plopped down on the bed and noticed the cello leaning against the bed. "Cello?"

"Yes," Cas gently sat himself on the bed and lovingly stroked the neck. "Since I was seven."

Dean whistled. "Damn, that's a long time."

Cas shrugged noncommittedly. "It doesn't seem like it to me."

The conversation died there, Dean not knowing what to say and he assumed Cas was just too socially awkward. He looked down at his thumbs and then glanced back up at Cas. _Shit_ he was really good looking. Cas was nervously plucking the strings on his cello with his slender fingers and Dean couldn't help but be mesmerized by it. "You sounded really good."

Cas looked up a bit surprised. "Oh, thank you."

"What," he asked. "Just because I'm not a music major like the rest of you guys on the floor you don't think I know good music when I hear it?"

"No." Cas blushed a deep crimson. "It's just been awhile since I've heard it is all."

Now Dean was intrigued. "Why?"

Cas resumed nervously plucking on the strings. "I stopped for a few years and only resumed for my audition for my scholarship."

"Why did you stop?"

He let out a little sigh and it made his hair fly up. "I lost the feeling. For a while it just didn't feel…right. It wasn't quite reaching into my soul, you know?"

Dean furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't think so."

Cas frowned in contemplation. "Well, it's sort of like this." He grabbed his bow from the end of his bed and crawled over to sit behind Dean. He leaned in close and brought his arms around him. He placed his cold fingers on his neck and let the bow rest against his stomach. "It's like I'm sharing it with another person. Like dancers." He began to lightly move the bow back and forth while moving his fingers up and down Dean's neck and chest. "Each of them working together to tell a story as one entity." He gently pushed Dean back and he let his head fall closer to the crook of Dean's neck like a real cello. "The best become one with their instrument and the music." His fingers quickly danced across Dean's body and Cas became more smooth and dramatic with his bowing, swelling higher and faster until he stopped. "Do you get it now?"

Dean felt Cas's breath on his neck and his fingers still lightly laid against his arm. "Yeah, I think so." Cas smiled and made to move away from Dean, but he grabbed his wrist gently and pulled Cas back. Dean hesitantly placed a kiss against Cas's lips, quickly breaking away out of embarrassment.

Cas blushed furiously and sat his bow down. "Um, that was unexpected."

"I'm sorry. I normally don't do shit like that. I don't even-"

"Dean," Cas said softly stopping Dean's rambling. "I don't mind."

"Good, good." Dean ran a hand through his hair. "So I should probably get going. It's been fun and all."

"Of course," replied Cas with a curt nod.

Dean shuffled out of the room before turning back around. "Do you wanna go on a date Friday?"

Cas's eyes lit up and his smile stretched across his face. "Yes, I'd love too."

Dean smiled back. "Okay."

He walked back to his dorm with a smile on his face.

And if he was woken up at 3:26 by a drunken clash of "Piano Man" and "Friends in Low Places" out of tune and at the top of lungs, well, he could handle anything knowing Cas was just through the wall.

 **A/N: Balthazar, Benny, and Gilda's song was "All I Ask of You" form** _ **The Phantom of the Opera**_ **and the entire Cas mimicking Dean's body as a cello comes from** _ **If I Stay**_ **(but damn it was too good of a scene not to use)**


End file.
